Levinas’s two most influential works—Totality and Infinity and Otherwise than Being—develop accounts suggesting how social and political orders based upon the ethical priority of peace over war might be enacted. In working out a fuller sense of Levinas’s approach, which often remains sketchy in these and his other writings, much has been made of the face-to-face relationship and of how it leads to communication with others, as well as opens up the possibility for commentary. Indeed, without sufficiently acknowledging the responsibility I take for another, justice, necessarily fragmentary and incomplete, quickly becomes a tool of injustice. The purpose of this conference is to consider how Levinasian discourse might address a broad range of questions of justice and the role of law in meting out justice in the context of vexing legal and social problems we face today. Paper submissions are also welcomed that put into question the significance of justice and/or the law at a more theoretical or metaphysical level. We are also hopeful that papers might be presented that consider a Levinasian reading of questions of law and justice within a variety of cultural traditions, including those found in Cannon Law, Common Law, Constitutional Law, various notions of Indigenous Law, International Law, Rabbinical Law, Sharia Law, etc.

SUBMISSION DUE DATES
1. On or before March 1, 2014: submission of a 500-word abstract and a short bio-bibliography of the author.
2. On or before March 15, 2014: notification, based on the decision of the acceptance committee.
3. May 15, 2014: publication of conference program.

All submissions (preferably as doc or pdf files) and questions concerning the conference should be sent electronically to:NALS2014@aol.com.